Foxchase nightmare: Crozet mom allegedly tries to poison husband

On a day when her son was set to head to the first day of first grade, Theresa Lynn Brady wasn't around to see him off. Instead, the 33-year-old Western Albemarle mom was in jail, accused of attempting to murder the boy's father, her husband, a captain with the Albemarle Fire Department.

According to a search warrant affidavit, it was around 2am on August 21 when a prick to his abdomen awakened James A. Brady to the specter of his wife lying beside him with a flashlight. When Brady asked what she was doing, she allegedly said that while checking the firmness of his abdomen, she accidentally scraped it with her fingernail.

Suspicious, Brady recovered two syringes from the floor that appeared to fall from his wife's shorts– and the needle on one of them was bent, according to the affidavit.

The nocturnal incident capped a troubling week for the firefighter. He told police he had been violently ill and vomiting uncontrollably for six days, a time during which he said he lost 15 pounds.

According to her husband's account, Theresa Brady then changed her story by saying that she had been attempting to give him medication to feel better. Apparently, he didn't feel better, because around 3:30am he attempted to call rescue personnel via 911, but his wife kept hanging up the phone, according to the prosecutor.

During an interview with Albemarle police, Theresa Brady admitted attempting to give her husband a dose of insulin. A hormone naturally produced by the body to regulate blood sugar, insulin is the standard treatment for Type 1 diabetes. However, according to the affidavit, Mrs. Brady works in the medical field, a career that would make her aware that a high dose of insulin can be fatal if injected into a non-diabetic. According to online records at the Virginia Department of Health Services website, Theresa Brady has been a registered nurse in good standing since 2004.

James Brady has no medical condition that requires insulin, the affidavit notes. However, he may now be facing health issues.

"He's waiting for test results," says the prosecutor, Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford.

In addition to getting charged with attempted murder, Mrs. Brady also faces a misdemeanor charge of delaying communications, stemming from her alleged efforts to intercept her husband's 911 calls.

At an August 22 bond hearing in Charlottesville Albemarle Domestic and Juvenile Relations Court, which was closed to the media and the public, Mrs. Brady did not seek bond, but she can do so, according to Lunsford, at the next hearing which is set for September 17. The judge also heard a request for a protective order.

If any other details of the alleged crime were revealed in Brady's 1:30pm bond hearing, reporters weren't allowed to hear them. A bailiff blocked anyone who was not "immediate family" from entering the courtroom, claiming limited space in the room used for video-feed hearings.

A call to Judge Edward Berry was not returned by posting time.

According to the search warrant inventory, police removed the syringes, a vial of the "Humulin R" brand of synthetic insulin (just one-third full), an unlabeled medicine bottle, 10 prescription bottles, a partially-filled bottle of Lindeman's wine, and five guns– including three Colt .45s and a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum. A brass candlestick holder also was seized, as were some laptop computers and flash drives.

Neighbors in the luxurious large-lot Foxchase subdivision, just southeast of Crozet, may not be accustomed to awakening to police cars lining the streets. Two neighbors encountering a reporter said the same thing about the Bradys: "They kind of kept to themselves."

Theresa and James Brady bought their lot at the corner of Foxdale Lane and Ellington Bend in 2004, and the four-bedroom, 3,500 square foot house was built in 2005. Albemarle County assesses it at $772,800.

The day after the 911 calls, the grass covering the nearly one-acre lot stands half mowed, and the basketball goal in the driveway is quiet. Four hanging baskets filled with dead plants line the porch, and by the front door a small statue of a golden retriever puppy holding a bone bears the word, "Welcome."

No one answers a reporter's knock; but inside a dog can be heard barking. A neighbor says the couple have two boys, including the one starting first grade.

With additional reporting by Courteney Stuart.